Bobcats scratch out 1-1 draw

The Saddleback men's soccer team rallied from a deficit to tie Santa Ana College, 1-1, on Tuesday inside the stadium.  The Bobcats and Dons remain neck-and-neck in the standings.

Saddleback and Santa Ana had a physical match on Tuesday as a bundle of yellow cards were handed out and more than 25 penalties.  In the end, both teams walked away with the glass half full as it ended in a 1-1 tie.

Santa Ana scored first in the 70^th minute when Remy Barazin scored his second goal of the season off a pass from Edwin Flores as the Dons took the lead.  Nine minutes later Saddleback tied the game when Kevin Sanchez took a rebound and beat the Santa Ana keeper in the 79^th minute to even the score.

The game was tight for most of the night as the two squads were physical and made some runs.  Saddleback controlled the play for most of the first half, outshooting Santa Ana 5-2 over the first 45 minutes.  Santa Ana came out of the locker room hot, putting on a ton of pressure in evening up the shots midway through the second half.  Saddleback then had the better of play down the stretch to finish with a 12-9 advantage in total shots.

Saddleback is now 6-5-3 overall and 3-4-2 in Orange Empire Conference play.  The Bobcats are currently in sixth place in the standings, one-half game back of Santa Ana (7-5-4, 3-3-3). 

Saddleback will play again Friday when it travels to Golden West College.  The Bobcats and Rustlers are scheduled to start at 3:00 PM in Huntington Beach.